Kittyhawk Products, a company based in southern California, has opened its first Pacific Northwest facility right here in Canby and is now offering its unique services to contractors in the region.
Kittyhawk is a pioneer and leader in Hot Isostatic Pressing, or HIP, a process in which metals, ceramics or carbides are simultaneously subjected to extremely high heat and pressure, which the company says results in “startling improvements” to the materials’ mechanical properties.
Kittyhawk says the process is also used for “diffusion bonding similar and dissimilar materials and for applying wear or corrosion resistant coatings to parts exposed to stringent operating conditions.”
I’m just going to be honest here: We don’t know what any of that means. But it sounds awesome.
Kittyhawk has six 4,600 HIP units at their headquarters in Garden Grove, a city in northern Orange County near Los Angeles, each one capable of producing pressures of up to 15,000 PSI and temperatures of up to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit.
They have over 50 employees and serve companies from the aerospace, commercial, military, automotive, firearms, medical, oil and gas industries, including Honeywell, UTI Aerospace Systems, G.E., Pratt & Whitney, and Rolls Royce.
The company says they expanded to Canby because of increased demand for HIP services in the Pacific Northwest. They hope the new location will facilitate continued growth for their existing clients and attract new customers from the region.
Their “multi-million dollar” investment in the Canby Pioneer Industrial Park includes the purchase of a 27,000 square foot facility on South Redwood Street next to Canby Utility and a new, state-of-the-art HIP unit.
The company says they hope to hire local talent to join the Canby team and install a second 4,600 square foot unit early next year.
